Suspects arrested over credit-card skimming

The Nation April 10, 2014 1:00 am

Two Romanian men, suspected of being members of a credit-card skimming ring, were arrested in Bangkok on Tuesday along with some 800 credit cards.

Metropolitan Police Area 5 chief Pol Maj-General Seubsak Phansura told a press conference that the suspects - identified as Alexandrew Felsic, 26, and Elise George Sergi, 33 - had been arrested in Klong Toei district after reportedly withdrawing cash from ATMs in the Lumpini area.

Seubsak said the pair had confessed to police that they were hired at 500 euros (Bt22,230) per time to withdraw cash for a hacker gang that had stolen credit-card information from banks based in Italy.

He said they claimed they were doing it for the first time, and that |they had not as yet withdrawn any cash.

The suspects maintained their innocence in the face of a police investigation's finding that they and another accomplice had stayed at a hotel in Sukhumvit Soi 11 a month ago, during which time they had withdrawn |almost Bt1 million from ATMs, he added.

Seubsak said 364 of the 795 credit cards seized from the duo contained customers' information, while the rest were blank. Damages of up to Bt100 million could, therefore, have been involved if they had succeeded in withdrawing the maximum amount via the cards.